Guilt & Grief (The Maze Runner)

Chapter 5: Secret Club

Nick glared at Alby as he watched him from the distance. Nick was at his usual spot at the table, while Alby was on the other side of the room at another table with some other gladers, talking and laughing.

Nick's table was quiet. Minho and Newt haven't sat back at the table since the events with Clara.  It was empty.  Leo sat next to him as usual on his left side while the spot on his right was empty.

That is where George always sat.

Gally walked over, bumping into a glader who stood up, making Gally groan.  "Watch it, shank".  Gally hissed before shaking his head, coming to the table where he sat down across from Leo.  Gally stabbed his food with his fork before shoving it into his mouth.

Nick looked at Gally and then his eyes flickered to the empty seat next to Gally.

That is where Clara sat.

And then his eyes went to the left, another empty seat.

That's where Stephen sat.

Nick's leg bounced up and down as he was thinking.  He wasn't paying attention as Leo spoke, talking to Gally.  The two in a conversation.

All Nick could think about how wrong everything was.  This glade didn't feel like a home anymore.  All the people he cared about were dying and being forgotten.  He was going insane.  Why was he the only one feeling this way?  Why wasn't Gally as mad about it as him? 

Clara was Gally's best friend and he has done nothing about it.  Sure.  He's yelled at gladers from time to time but that's because he got stung from the griever.  He doesn't share the same hatred as he does with the other gladers.

"You want my biscuit, Nick?"  Gally suddenly asked.

Nick snapped out of his thoughts and looked to Gally who was holding the biscuit out to him.

"Nah".  Nick shook his head.

Gally was surprised by this.  Usually, Nick always begged to eat everyone's biscuit and he was turning it down.  "Suit yourself".

Nick immediately stood up and leaned forward, towards Leo and Gally, his eyes flickering from the both of them. "Meet me in The Dead Heads in 10 minutes". Nick whispered to them and walked away.

Leo watched Nick leave and then looked to Gally who looked just as confused as him.

"That was weird". Leo commented.

Gally shook his head, letting out a long sigh. "He's been losing it ever since that day".

Clint was listening to Jeff go on about how one of the slicers came so close to cutting off his index finger when Nick walked bye, placing a folded piece of paper in front of him.

Clint turned to Nick but he was already walking away. He looked at the note with confusion before opening it up;

Dead Heads meet in 10

Clint was quick to crinkle it up before shoving it into his pocket, nodding as Jeff continued to talk.

10 minutes later...

"This is stupid. Why are we doing this? Why do we listen to Nick?" Gally kept going on to Leo how dumb this was. Gally shoved a branch away as Leo didn't say anything.

When they got closer to the clearing, they saw Nick pacing back and forth.

"Nick, what are we doing out here, you shank?" Gally asked. "You better have a good reason". He crossed his arms over his chest.